3 ms·
> According to the World Health Organization, tuberculosis is one of the top infectious disease killers in the world, causing 1.6 million deaths in 2021. from
by terminatornet 4y ago
> According to the World Health Organization, tuberculosis is one of the top infectious disease killers in the world, causing 1.6 million deaths in 2021.
from https://covid19.who.int https://covid19.who.int, cumulative deaths for covid are at 6,825,461 worldwide, so I'm guessing it was at least equal if not higher to the number of tb deaths in 2021.
I understand 2 things can be bad at once, but it does seem really strange that we removed pretty much all covid mitigations in the US but we're also mad at this one person for spreading tuberculosis when people are constantly going out in public and spreading covid.
- kevingadd 4y agoThat's because she can go back to being a Productive Part Of The Economy once she gets treated for tuberculosis, but there's no straightforward COVID cure to give to people (the treatments we do have are very expensive and not guaranteed) so we collectively just pretend it doesn't exist and tell people to get back to work
- wkat4242 4y agoCovid is no longer dangerous, much less so than TB. If it weren't the hospitals would have been overflowing with the massive spread it's seeing. And avoidance is untenable as China has shown: even their dictatorship couldn't keep up the heavy-handed measures. All they've accomplished is delaying their path to recovery for more than a year. It's time to let our immune systems do the work they're supposed to again.
- acdha 4y agoCOVID is still dangerous, and the death figures are still undercounted[1]. There’s a certain romantic appeal to leaving it up to our immune systems but that means millions of premature deaths and millions more disabled people. The best way to make it actually less dangerous is to train your immune system with vaccines but we haven’t been doing very well with that because it undercuts the “everything’s over, start spending more!” message the downtown business associations so badly desire. 1. https://theconversation.com/covid-19-deaths-in-the-us-continue-to-be-undercounted-research-shows-despite-claims-of-overcounts-198266 https://theconversation.com/covid-19-deaths-in-the-us-contin...
- wkat4242 4y agoCOVID is extremely contagious now, and it's spreading faster than ever before, yet the hospitals are fine. Of course it still causes deaths as does the flu but it's not an emergency anymore. TB totally would be if it were as common as COVID is in our society because that's so deadly. It's just much easier to prevent. And it's not just business that needs to be open. People do too, for their mental state and livelihoods. If China couldn't make it happen we certainly can't.
- acdha 4y agoCOVID is still killing hundreds of people per day in the United States (450/day currently), and hospitals are still running very close to capacity with extended delays for treatment in many cases. The numbers are slowly trending better but wishful thinking doesn’t mean it’s over. > And it's not just business that needs to be open. People do too, for their mental state and livelihoods. If China couldn't make it happen we certainly can't. There’s quite a range of options between lockdowns and doing nothing. The restaurant and bar industry favor the latter because their businesses are the highest risk and the owners didn’t want to spend money on air quality upgrades but that doesn’t mean that those are the only possible options.
- wkat4242 4y ago450 per day is not a lot though. It's much lower than the normal number of deaths you'd expect in the US for its population and life expectancy (about 12000 per day I figure?) - after all people have to die of something eventually. Considering covid is absolutely everywhere now it's really not high numbers. It's just taking its share of the seasonal flu deaths and other common causes for the old now. After all it is the season for respiratory illnesses. I don't consider that a danger to society. A tuberculosis outbreak would really be because that has a mortality rate of over 10%, much higher than covid has ever been. Not sure about the US but the hospital numbers here are really fine. A bit more ventilation is always good of course, and it'll be nice if that can be made in due course. You're free to keep worrying and masking of course, but don't expect everyone to :) Personally I'm making up for lost time now, going clubbing more than ever. I really needed that. Social needs are also important.
- terminatornet 4y agoI literally posted numbers showing higher covid deaths in the past 3 years for covid vs tb. how do you figure tb is more dangerous? https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/tuberculosis https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/tuberculosi... > A total of 1.6 million people died from TB in 2021 (including 187 000 people with HIV). Worldwide, TB is the 13th leading cause of death and the second leading infectious killer after COVID-19 (above HIV/AIDS).
- wkat4242 4y agoThe last 3 years includes the whole pandemic including the time when COVID was still dangerous, of course. And TB isn't very common in our western world, if it would be as common as COVID it would have huge numbers. That's what makes it dangerous. It's not as contagious but much more deadly.
- terminatornet 4y agoit's crazy how covid became nice as soon as we got a non-sterilizing vaccine that doesn't prevent spread, just keeps people out of hospitals for the short term. Best of luck with your repeated infections.